soy sauce Soy sauce is used for its salty depth of flavor, and sometimes for its color too, in China and Japan and in many Thai dishes of Chinese origin. It is made from soybeans mixed with a roasted grain, wheat or barley or rice, wheat being the most common. The mix is fermented (with a yeast mold and lactobacillus) and salted, then left to stand for up to a year before being filtered. The traditional version of soy sauce had small bits of beans still floating in it, but modern commercial soy sauce is strained. There are many brands and styles of soy sauce. For all the recipes given here, use a medium soy, such as regular Kikkoman or reduced-sodium Kikkoman, widely available in grocery stores, or Pearl River brand soy sauce, available in Chinese groceries. (Do not use China Lily or any of the blackish and bad-tasting products that give soy sauce a bad name.) We like the Kikkoman reduced-sodium sauce when making dipping sauces, for it has a lighter, clearer taste than regular soy sauce. We buy regular Kikkoman in half-gallon containers, decant some into a small pouring bottle for daily use, and store the rest in a cool place. Black soy sauce, or dark soy sauce, is a category of Chinese soy sauce with a darker color and often a stronger flavor, used for the color it gives; it is not called for in any of the recipes in this book. Sweeter and saltier versions of soy sauce are used in Indonesia and Malaysia: kecap asin, kecap manis, and others. Thick soy sauce is a Taiwanese-made specialty, thick, very dark brown, and sweet, that we like to drizzle over fresh tofu. It can be hard to find. Do not use it in these recipes in place of regular soy sauce.
